Monday Made It! Classroom Reveal!

Hello everyone!! This week I'm linking up once again with Fourth Grade Frolics for Monday Made It! And since I'm all finished with my classroom, I thought I would share my classroom reveal at the same time! All of my decor this year was made by me and I can't be more excited about how it all turned out!! Get ready, because this might be a lengthy post!!

First off, my outdoor bulletin board is all Minion-ized. Since I don't have a Cameo or anything, all of those minions and lettering were printed and hand-cut by yours truly.. I have a blister to prove it! I love the way it turned out and can't wait for the kiddoes to come in and see them!

Inside the classroom, I only have one bulletin board--but it runs the entire length of the room. That big thing gets split into all sorts of configurations, and it ended up looking like this!

Our daily schedule is on the far end, and the larger section is where I will post all of our learning objectives. The white sheets are just laminated posterboard. All of the headers and such were printed on cardstock and laminated with my handy at-home laminator.

This is where my students will chart the number of A.R. Points that they earn. Each time they meet a level, they will move their nametag down the wall. Each level earns a small prize until they get to 100 points--and that's when they get to pick the big prize! A free book from the book order!

Our math fact wall--The kids have buttons with their names on them that they will move to the different levels as they pass them. At the end of the year, if they pass them all, they get to have a Fun Day!

And our class rules take up a little space on this display.

Next up are two bulletin boards that we use daily for Flex Math and Guided Reading. I didn't necessarily MAKE these, but I did put them up!

To learn a bit more about how I run my math groups...click HERE.

 Almost done! Here are just a couple more things that I made for my classroom. LABELS! I love organized materials, so I label things for my kids and for myself to keep us in order. First up is my math carts. These carts store the things we need for math stations. Fact cards, our timed tests, and any manipulatives or sheets we need are in this cart. The kids will be responsible for getting their own things ready for the period and it all comes out of this cart.

And all of our folders needed minion labels too, so I made those as well! 

And I was finally able to hang up some of my TPT goodies, like these  Subway Art Synonym Posters that I got from The Brown Bag Teacher.

And that's about it... I also made some yellow curtains for my room as well, but I forgot to take a picture of them... I'm not very proud of those since I used my stapler to make them!! But you can't even tell because they hang at the top of about a 10 foot tall window.  I've got a couple more things in store, but right now I'm going to enjoy being home with my husband and my girls...because work starts again on Tuesday. Where did my summer go??

See you next week!

Click here to head back to Fourth Grade Frolics for more Monday Made Its!

Keeping It Together

See that little picture down there???

Yeah, that's me during the school year...Drowning in a sea of papers to grade, progress monitoring to record, test scores to keep up with, and parent conferences to plan. 

Now let me just admit it, I am probably the most disorganized teacher in the world when it comes to paper! Most of the important stuff gets buried on my desk, or (gasp) chucked into the trash by accident. I am always losing data or hunting for it in between parent-teacher conferences. This year, I've decided to do something about it. I am going to put all of my data in ONE place--which includes meeting notes, progress monitoring, class grades. and appointments. I made myself a little planner to get me through the year and I thought I would share!

This is the cover! I'm a bit of a cheapskate so I went with something with lots of black and white, along with a pop of color just so I'll be able to find it when it gets buried on my desk.

 Inside this one little book you will find every data sheet that I need for the year and I'll be whipping this notebook out at every meeting to keep myself on track. The interior pages are completely black and white...why? Because I could print it for free at school. Here are a few of the pages that I included. 

Gotta Have a Calendar! Hand written dates so that I can reuse from year to year.

Meeting Notes Pages- About 15 of these for all that wonderful meeting time.

Writing Exam Scores and Progress Monitoring Table, Also included pages for MAPS scores, fluency scores, and other important assessment scores. These I definitely plan on using! Progress monitoring is a huge pet peeve of mine because it's hard to keep track of, but not anymore!

Gradebook Pages--LOTS of these!

I also added in several blank checksheets, a list of my school computer login information (I always forget my passwords for stuff!. I think that this year is going to run a little smoother now that I have a place to keep everything. No more hunting for me!

The best part...it only cost me four bucks. I printed it at school and had it bound into a notebook at Office Depot and now it's all ready to go Back to School! (Say it isn't so!)

So I have a question...How do you keep all of your data organized? Please leave a comment letting me know how you do it all and keep it together!

Snap It Up Saturday! Let's Write!

Hey friends! I'm running about an hour behind this morning but I'm here with my cup of coffee and ready to share something great with you all! It's been a crazy week getting all of the beginning of year assessments out of the way and we finally got to jump into some serious writing this week. I LOVE to teach writing. Most teachers despise the subject but it is my all time fave! If we could departmentalize, I would teach only writing, all day, every day! Anyway, my kiddoes this year really struggle with spelling. We aren't very fluent readers but we get the job done, and spelling just doesn't come easy for us. So you get my idea, here's a little sample from one of my kiddoes that I got on Monday. She has good ideas, but the spelling you see really interferes with her meaning.

Spelling is something that is really developmental. Some kids take to it right away, and others just take a little longer. In third grade, we really work on our abilities to spell correctly, and if we can't, we learn to use all sorts of resources to help us get our meaning across. A traditional dictionary doesn't help with spelling--you've gotta know how to spell to find the word to begin with. So, I make special word dictionaries for my kids to use to collect words in. They keep them inside their writing binders and I see them out and being used every day during our writing block. I thought I would share those with you this week since they can be so helpful in the classroom.

To use them, print out a single copy. Then take them to your copier and run the stack front to back. I have my kiddoes cut them apart on the midline and then order the pages. One staple in the corner and they are ready to stick into the pocket of their binder. If you don't use a binder, you can always staple the bundle inside the back cover of your notebook.

During writing conferences, I always give my kids a few words that they really need and we add those right into their dictionaries while we work. It really seems to help my ESOL students, who will often just sit there and write nothing at all when faced with a word that they don't know how to spell. We also add content words and interesting vocabulary words that we run across as we read during our reading block. 

And that's it folks! Once again, with no time to draw, I thought I would share a classroom tool that might make things a bit more manageable for you in the real world. I hope you find my freebies useful and that you will continue to visit my little corner of the teaching world.

Have a great weekend!

Snap It Up Saturday! Who Spilled the Paint? and a Classroom Update!

Howdy everyone! It's a bit past my bedtime so bear with me for a bit. I just had to make an eleven-o-clock trip to my husband's workplace to bring him some money. I just love it when debit cards decide they don't want to work...don't you? And on top of that, I worked ALL day in my classroom getting ready for the new school year. I've made a little bit of progress and I might be nearing the finish line. I'll share a few quick ideas from my room and then I'll head straight for the goodies!

Math Fact Mastery Board- When my students pass one of their levels of Multiplication facts, they get to move their button (the round things up top) to the area below the fact set that they are in. This helps to motivate them, as well as keeping track of things for me. I made the buttons by painting over some 1 3/4 inch wooden circles and glueing push pins to the back! Then I stuck on 1 inch round labels so I can write their names on them.

Behavior Chart and Magnets- The chart I've discussed before and the magnets were created in the same manner as my math fact buttons. I used red masking tape to block off the sections on my board and trimmed it all out in zebra print. Can you guess the theme in my room? (oh yeah, sorry about the crooked cellphone pictures)

Looking for a quick and easy table storage solution? Crates! I got these at Walmart for about three dollars apiece. They are zip-tied together so they don't fall over, and every table has one. I plan on putting our reading and writing journals in these as well.

Behavior Bucks Storage Chart- I bought these from Vistaprint! They are business cards that I personalized to say Mrs. Smith's Behavior Bucks! Each student will have a behavior bucks card, and can earn punches (I have a star-shaped one) for moving UPWARD on our behavior chart. Once they reach 15 punches, they will receive a special treat! (homework pass, snack from the teacher, lunch bunch, etc)

And now, it's back to Snap it Up Saturday! These week I'm giving away a little sampling of a brand new digital paper pack that I posted in my TPT store this week. It has had a few purchases and the buyers have all been happy. Once again, inspired by my daughter and her love for all things paint related, this little set is called "Who Spilled the Paint?" And they look just like that..somebody dumped out the paint cups and swirled them all together!  Click on the image below to SNAP THEM UP!

BUT WAIT!

Don't leave yet! If you've been following along, you know that I am a member of a brand new collaborative blog called "The Teaching Tribune." We are right in the middle of a BIG giveaway and there is still time to enter to win several fantastic prizes. We've already given away TPT gift certificates, a basket valued at $200, a laminator, and a Quiet Classroom Pencil Sharpener. But the best is yet to come! We still have a brand new Google Nexus Tablet, a custom blog design, and more left to give away! Click below to stop in, read all about it, and enter for your chance to win!

Thanks for stopping in! I hope you enjoy your freebie and wish you luck on winning one of the fantastic prizes from the new blog!
Have a great weekend!

My Teacher Stash! Well...The Part my Husband Knows about...

Hey ya'll..as I've said before.. I love ALL things school supply related. I could spend hours trekking around to all the different supply stores scooping up all of that fabulousness. I've been that way since I was a kid tagging along behind my daddy picking out Lisa Frank folders, fancy pencils, and sparkly notebooks. Now that I'm a teacher, I bypass all that stuff and head straight for what's useful! And that's where this post comes in...what do I buy for my classroom? Here you go...

First off, composition books! I have a deep seated hatred for spiral notebooks. They fall apart, pages come out, the wire coil comes loose and stabs you every time you pick it up. Last year, I switched to marble composition books and never looked back. Our reading journals lasted the ENTIRE year. If you want to see how I use them, check out this post.

I label them first as to what they are going to be used for. Then on the first day of school, I break out my sticker collection and let my kids decorate them. These will also get a red label on the spine that has each kid's name and number on it. 

Next up, something I buy every single year when they go on sale. Yeah, the kids bring them in, but they are never the same colors, or you end up with Lisa Frank or Spiderman. FOLDERS! We use these for morning work. I'll stuff them with some looseleaf paper and my kids will use them every single day. To see what I use for morning work (that I don't have to copy), click here. I always buy at least 25 of a couple of different colors, that way I can make extras at the beginning for those newbies that filter in throughout the year.

A couple more common necessities you will currently find in my stockpile are below. I teach in a low income district and many of my kids do not arrive with school supplies. I pre-stock four supply bins (one for each table group) with everything you see below, plus scissors and glue bottles.

The index cards we use for practicing multiplication facts. I cut them in half and the kids use them to make their own flash cards for the fact set they are working on. TONS of gluesticks, markers, and crayons also inhabit my one solitary cabinet. Oh, and by the way, that big pack of gluesticks---$2.00 at Big Lots. Score! I promise I didn't buy them all.

Some other things, I purchased especially for this year. I'm redoing my classroom theme. My previous themes were Clutter, More Clutter, and Clutter with a Dash of Crazy. So I switched over to some zebra print with a pop of red for all of my trim and I'm waiting on a couple of fun things to come in the mail. I did get one package today that I have to share!

It's my new behavior clip chart! I created the individual sections in PowerPoint, saved them as images, and then uploaded them to this website's Custom Banner Builder and Voila! I have a 1 foot by 4 foot Canvas clip chart/banner that matches! The price was reasonable--$21.25, but it's great because it is so durable!  Now I just have to paint my clothespins! 

It's almost time folks! Those school bells will be ringing in no time!

And a quick reminder about our current event! 

I am a contributor to a fantastic new blog called The Teaching Tribune. Right now, we have a MASSIVE Blog hop and giveaway running. If you hop through, you'll download 20 fantastic teaching resources and then have the opportunity to enter to win one of ten FANTASTIC prizes! Want to know more? Click on the image below to stop in! Feel free to share the love with your friends and coworkers as well.

As always, thanks for stopping in! Best of luck getting ready for back to school!

Took a day off...to go to work!

Hello again everyone! Yes, you read that header correctly.. I took a day off today, so that I could go to work. The truth is.. I took a day off of Mommy duty and went someplace quiet, where I can think, plan, and create. Many people would assume I went to a spa, or relaxed by the pool. But no, I went to my classroom..In an empty building, with nothing but a little eighties music blasting out of my iPad speakers..I was ready for a little dose of heaven. Until I walked into my classroom, and was met with this...

Somehow, the contents of my bookshelves and cabinets were vomited onto the floor in this manner. I believe the cleaning fairy is a bit disgruntled. Maybe the dust in her work environment or the constant attacks of feline sized cockroaches that seem to only visit in the summer have caused her to be less interested in her work. 

It was a task, but I got it all put back where it was supposed to go and got started arranging and decorating. My favorite part of the school year is this time. I get to take a shell of a room and turn it into a kid-and-teacher friendly workspace that serves our day to day instructional needs. I'm not finished yet, as I have some purchases to make (Don't tell Mr. Smith!) but I thought I would share with you what I've gotten to so far. Maybe you can pull some ideas for your own room. Ready?? Here goes!

View from the Door

I rarely use my desk and spend a lot of time on the floor with my kids so I keep it against the wall. It's really only there to house my Laptop, Document Camera, and VCR (Yes...I have a VCR! My DVD player died and wasn't replaced so I had to have something to connect to closed-circuit TV). It also houses four drawers of JUNK...pens, band-aids, and the random junk I pick up. That's on the bill for the next trip. That is an Activeboard on the wall and I'm replacing the shoddy black shelf beneath it. 

From Door--Left Corner

Over in the corner is my reading nook/classroom library. I really need to level out my books or sort them in some manner. I just don't have the ability to focus long enough to take it on. I have sixteen large baskets of books--packed in so tight that not even Calista Flockhart could fit in there. :-) I also store our indoor recess stuff under the shelves as well. (blocks,puzzles,games). And yes, third graders still like to play with blocks.

The stoplight chart was for behavior, but I'm changing it up this year to a clip chart. I'm so happy that my desks match--there's nothing I hate worse than mismatched desks... it's kind of like Madea with her disdain for wire hangers. I'm also getting some groovy new curtains as well. I can't wait to get them!

If you are looking for some fun curtains, you should check out Kangaroo Closet, a fun little shop that I found on Etsy.

Rear corner, to the left of the door

All of my computers are in the corner..where they have to stay because of internet cables/etc. I have four desktops, two laptops, and two netbooks in my room. I was very lucky to have a netbook donated to my room last year from a parent, as well as having one funded by DonorsChoose.org. I get it this year! I just have to find somewhere to put them! My guided reading table is here as well, and I have a rolling cart that will house our needed materials for that group. The crate shelving houses all of our writing binders and writing supply bins. (pens, dictionaries, thesauruses/or is it thesauri?)  My plans for the board are a content vocabulary board in the large section, Math Master's Multiplication Fact Completion Chart/Tracker in the middle, and my calendar is down on the end. I made  the headers and cards all by myself! I wish I could find a red calendar pocket chart though...

And finally, the bane of my classroom existence. Overhead storage! At one point, we had six third grade teachers. Now, we have three. So that leaves three roomfuls of classroom clutter that has to be distributed into our rooms. That shelf up there drives me insane! I've finally decided to buy some colorful totes and just box it all up. It has been there four years and I'm tired of looking at it.

Whew! That was a long post! I'm not nearly finished with it, but I did get a good start on it and I'm looking forward to the next "day off" to work on it a bit more. Maybe I can call upon one of  the Grandmas to give me a day off next week. 

In the words of my dear friend Bugs Bunny,

THAT'S ALL FOLKS!

Thanks for visiting and taking a walk through my corner of the world..Check back soon for something big! You won't be disappointed!